After investigating home building practices common in Texas colonias, impoverished areas near the Mexico border, a Texas A&M architecture Ph.D. student is working to share affordable, energy efficient construction techniques and home designs with colonias residents.

Hispanic residents of Travis County will have better access to health care and social services with the help of a new group of promotoras, community health workers trained by Texas A&M’s Colonias Program.

After two decades focused on improving the quality of life for residents of the impoverished, relatively undeveloped villages, or “colonias,” clumped near population centers on the U.S. side of the Texas-Mexico border, the Texas A&M University Colonias Program is celebrating its achievements.